Rangers of the Old Republic
by Chuckie Anelli
Summary: While on an assignment to capture a fugitive, Jack Landors of S.P.D. flies through an anomaly and winds up teaming up with Revan and his crew. Can the combined powers of a Power Ranger and the Jedi be enough to stop Darth Malak from using the Star Forge to dominate the galaxy? Slight love triangle between Revan/Bastila/Jack
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Jack Landors strode through the halls of Space Patrol Delta (S.P.D.) headquarters in his red and gray uniform. He freshly pressed it the night before and smirked to himself how funny that was. It was only six months ago when he was appointed to the position of leader of B-Squad; he could have cared less about the uniform or how it looked back then.

Now, he wore it with a level of pride which reflected his determination to be the best leader to the team he could be. There were some things he could not compromise on such as his dreadlocks which he wore tied up. They weren't regulation but nobody gave him any static about his hair due to his effectiveness in the field.

It wasn't long before he found himself in front of the door to the office of his commander, Anubis "Doggie" Cruger. The door slid open before he could even knock, startling Jack. _Wow, that's new. It must be pretty serious _he thought to himself as he crossed the threshold. Due to the abruptness of the door opening, he began to wonder if he'd done something wrong but for the life of him, he couldn't think of what that could be.

Before Jack stood his commander, facing a window overlooking the city seemingly ignoring him. Commander Cruger, a member of the dog-like Sirian race, stood nearly seven feet tall. To complement his height, he was broad shouldered and heavily muscular. The commander was the only sirian that Jack knew but he couldn't imagine other sirians being smaller than Cruger.

"SPD 1 reporting for duty sir!" Jack said, coming to attention and saluting the commander of the Space Patrol Delta (SPD) corps.

"Jack, good to see you, please have a seat." Cruger said turning around. He returned the salute. Jack was used to the commander's visage but even still, he couldn't help but feel at least a little bit intimidated by the sharp canines and the deep bass of Cruger's voice. Still, he relaxed from this previous stance and did as he was told.

"What's up Commander?"

Commander Cruger slid a datapad across the table into Jack's waiting hands. "You're new assignment.

Picking it up cautiously, Landors scanned through the datapad and smiled grimly. It was a prisoner pick up of one of their old foes, Dru. imprisoned on the penitentiary planet, escaped from the prison planet Golgos. Dru had been the Blue Ranger and second command of B-Squad's best friend who had gone rogue. It was unclear how he did it, but he apparently escaped with a prison transport. "Want me to pick up your dry cleaning while I'm at it sir?" he remarked casually.

Cruger's usual stern countenance softened. A few months ago, he would've reprimanded his subordinate for his familiarity, now he took the B-Squad's team leader's jocularity in stride. "All kidding aside Jack, I want you to stay focused on this one. Dru is wiley and the ship in which he escaped in, disappeared off sensors shorty after his jailbreak. Not only that, Lambda Sector has been experiencing some anomalies lately, so my command of 'staying focused' goes double."

"Any leads on where he might be sir?"

The commander shook his canine-like head. "Negative, but I have a hunch that he may be on Erebus 1. Those transports don't have a whole lot of range.

"Yes sir, of course. I'll assemble B-Squad at once."

"Negative Landors, this is a solo mission for you."

Surprise framed Jack's features as he stared at his commander. "Come again sir?"

"The rest of the Rangers are on separate assignments. Z and Bridge are busy in the garment district of Newtech City making sure new the new defensive tech that Kat just dreamed up are installed." Cruger said, referring to the yellow and green rangers respectively as well as their resident engineer. "And Sky and Syd are busy at court testifying at Broodwing's trial, so that leaves you."

A shudder shot through Jack at the mention of Broodwing. The Rangers had captured one of their deadliest foes in the form of Broodwing not too long ago; the battle had been pitched and deadly the Rangers as always, emerged triumphant. A pang of regret shot through Jack as he wished he could have been there to testify and help put Broodwing away permanently.

"So that just leaves me then." Jack surmised. On top of that, he realized why his commander didn't want the other rangers, especially Sky in on this mission. Though Sky had been the one to ultimately put Dru away, there couldn't be any risk of personal feelings getting in the way of the mission. Cruger nodded grimly in response to Jack's question. "Yes sir, you can leave it to me!"

"I know can count on you Jack, I wouldn't have assigned you if I didn't think you could handle it. Dismissed!"

The shuttle craft transport that SPD used for interstellar transport was fueled up and ready to go by the time Jack got to the hangar. The sleek, blue and white ship gleamed brightly under the lights as he approached. Smiling, he sat in the command seat and his hands flew over the controls with a speed borne by familiarity. "It's a simple milk run, what can go wrong?" Jack smirked to himself as he activated the launch sequence.

The launch-bay technician gave Jack the thumbs up, signaling that he was good to go for launch. Jack reciprocated the hand signal and activated the engines; the ship shuddered from the ignition. Not more than a minute later, he was under way, breaking out of Earth's atmosphere. "Shuttle one, engaging hyper-drive..._now!" _The ship's faster than light (FTL) drive engaged and slingshot the shuttle into the distant reaches of space.

When he neared the Lambda Sector, he shut down the hyper-drive and turned on the sublight engines. He leaned back as the computer ran the calculations for arrival time and landing coordinates. The He figured he had another two hours before he would make planetfall so he decided to catch a quick power nap. Since the sensors didn't pick up any of the anomalies that Cruger talked about, he figured he would be alright. Capturing Dru he figured, would be a full time job so he wanted all of his faculties sharp.

Violent shuddering woke him out of his doze with a start. "Wha-what's going on?" He asked in half-doze.

"Warning, anomaly detected!" The computer blared in response.

"Anomaly, what anomaly?! There was no anomaly before!" He shouted, now fully awake thanks to the adrenaline pumping through his system. He gripped the controls and set them to manual. He wished that he could say that he was surprised when he found that they were unresponsive but he would have been lying to himself if he did. "Display the anomaly on-screen!"

The computer obeyed and Jack looked at the screen in puzzlement. It was gigantic tear in space known as a wormhole. Cruger had warned him of anomalies that were present in the sector but he said nothing about a wormhole! He yanked with all of his might on the controls, trying to alter course hoping that they would magically respond. They didn't.

_It's sucking me right in! _He thought frantically as he tried everything that he could think of, including wishing, to make the ship alter course. As he got closer, the fissure grew ever larger on the screen. It was at least the size of Newtech City or bigger, Jack figured.

"Oh cr.." Jack began to say but was cut off as the shuttle entered the wormhole. There was a bright light, the sound of a loud "Bang!" and then Jack perceived, nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

When Jack came to, the first thing he saw was bright light. This light however, was different from the light he saw before he was knocked unconscious. The light he saw earlier was a bright white, as if a spotlight had suddenly come on and blinded him. This light, while bright was yellowish in nature. Also, there was the sensation of intense heat. He blinked his eyes gingerly, as if testing to make sure that they were truly working or if he wasn't just imagining things.

The smell in the air was sandy and the air itself was dry. His eyes finally completely came into focus and he took an instant assessment of where he was. The cockpit was in shambles and the interior lighting was out. The control panel was completely totaled; sparks from loose wires shot out intermittently. _Well, at least there's still power, fat lot of good that will do me, _he thought to himself grimly.

"Landors to SPD Base. Landors to SPD Base! _Come in Base!" _He shouted into the radio. All he got was static. "Great, the radio is dead." he muttered. He thought about trying his personal communicator but decided against it, it was designed for short range communication. There was no way he'd be able to reach base for assistance with it. "Looks like I'll just have to make do." He tried the computer as well, trying to view the flight log and star charts to glean a clue as to where he was but just like the radio, the computer was also dead.

His head throbbed from where it hit the control panel and he rubbed the spot. There was slight lump on his forehead but as far as he could tell, he didn't have a concussion. Though he was slowly composing himself, his body still moved in slow motion as he unfastened the safety straps from his seat and stood up. His legs felt slightly wobbly but he ignored the feeling. He went directly to the aft of the ship where the emergency gear was stowed.

Grabbing the emergency kit, he made a quick inventory of what was in it: three days ration of food and water, signal flares, a space blanket and a survival knife. He took everything even though he mentally scoffed at the survival knife; with his abilities, he figured he wouldn't truly need it. He checked his gear on his being which consisted of his morpher from which he could best determine, was still operational, and the personal blaster on his hip.

Satisfied that he had everything that he needed, he pressed the button to open the hatch. He held his breath while pressing the button, hoping that the hatch was still functional. When it slowly gave a machine line whirr, signaling that it was operational, he let the breath out in a great sigh. By the time the hatch completely opened, he felt that his strength had completely returned; his legs didn't have the phantom wobble as when he first stood up.

What first greeted him when the hatch was completely open was the sight of sand, an endless ocean of sand. _That explains the dryness in the air _he thought as he pulled out his datapad. He checked the nearby planets of his last known course, hoping to gain some clue as to where he was. His eyebrow raised in slight curiosity when it told him that no planets were desert planets, at least not inhabitable ones.

The heat assaulted him like a living thing and he wiped the sweat that threatened to fall into his eyes. He also resisted the urge to drink some water since he just got here. He turned to look at this ship and his heart sank. If he thought the inside looked bad, the outside looked significantly worse. _It's a total loss! _He determined that if he was going to fly off the planet, it wouldn't be in that ship. He shook his head and sighed, trying to put the unpleasant thought out of his mind.

_Well, maybe base or Golgos had me on their sensors and rescue is on its way. Nah scratch that, I couldn't be that lucky. I never got the chance to report into Golgos because I was still a few hours out. I thought I had time! _He considered staying with the ship in the hopes that maybe rescue would come by but then cursed himself for wishful thinking. He'd have to make his own way. Not wanting to dwell on the thoughts, he set his mind to the task at hand. He climbed up to the top of the ship to get a better lay of the land.

Whichever way he looked, sand surrounded him on all sides. From his vantage point, he could see no real landmarks; everything was flat. Far off in the distance however, as best as he could determine, he could see something that stood out the blankness of the landscape. Unless his eyes were playing tricks on him, he could swear that it was a city in the distance! He pumped his fist in triumph as he jumped off the shuttle He gathered together a pile of debris, intending to make it into a crude signpost to indicate which way he was going to walk.

Once that was done, he slung survival pack over his shoulders and started to walk. There was no way to accurately determine how far the city was or if it was even real or just a mirage but his best estimate was about thirty miles. The heat was overwhelming; not even in SWAT school had the heat been this intense. But still, he was full-fledged Power Ranger and wasn't going to let the heat or adversity dampen his indomitable spirit.

By looking at the chronometer on his wrist and doing some quick calculations, he figured he had walked about six miles. There was no sign of the heat letting up so he took a swig of water. The coolness felt wonderful as it slowly slid down his parched throat. It was while he was drinking that he noticed something peculiar out of the corner of his eye.

At first he thought it was the trick of the desert messing with his vision. But when the took another swig of his canteen, he noticed it again, nearly imperceptible movement in the sand. Slowly he closed the canteen and reached for his personal blaster as he cautiously walked toward the movement. He was on his guard; he had no idea what it was that he was seeing since he didn't know where he was. It could've been an animal; he hoped if it was some sort of animal, it was harmless like an earthworm back home or even better, just the wind shifting the sand.

All of a sudden, the sand exploded in all directions momentarily throwing Jack off balance. Before him stood a humanoid figure clad in light-brown robes which blended into the sand perfectly. On his head was some sort of mask made of a material Jack couldn't determine with eye ports which looked like goggles. The mask was horrific in appearance like some sort of monster out of a bad dream. In his hand there was a black staff of some sort that slightly resembled a mace but was far more wicked looking. What was truly frightening was the noises the creature was making. It emitted some sort of roar that was a combination of demonic, mocking laughter and a howl.

Instinctively, Jack rolled out of the way just as the strange looking weapon crashed down to where he _was. _"Whoa, guess you're not friendly!" He shouted as he pointed his blaster at the creature. Right before he could fire, his weapon was knocked out of his hand by another one of those wicked looking weapons. He turned around to find another one of those monsters that had somehow snuck up behind him!

Moving with a speed borne from months of intensive training and and hard-won combat experience, Jack lashed out with a roundhouse kick that caught the creature flanking him, full in the face. The impact that traveled up his leg was satisfying as the creature roared and fell to the ground. _At least they can fall! _He thought to himself as he focused his attention to the next creature. This one also swung at Jack but missed him by easily a foot. Jack caught the long weapon and using the creature's momentum against it, flipped the creature on its back with a loud "thud" on the sand's grainy surface.

The one he downed first got back on its feet and charged Jack but the ranger was already somersaulting toward his dropped weapon. In one fluid motion, he picked up his blaster, landed on his feet and fired at the creature. The blaster was set to stun; the creature's body locked up and it fell paralyzed to the ground. The second creature also charged Jack but this one managed to gain ground before Jack to could bring his weapon to bear on it.

The mace-looking weapon came crashing down but Jack parried it with his blaster; the blaster was designed for both melee and ranged attacks thanks to its shape so the impact glanced off. The shock of the hit did reverberate up his arm however. Shaking it off, Jack lashed out with a kick to its robed mid-section and then followed up with a strike to the creature's temple with his blaster before throwing it hard to the ground with a simple Judo throw.

He rammed his fist into the center of the creature's hideous face, knocking it out; it lay still and Jack thought for a second that he killed it. He was relieved when he saw the creature's chest moving albeit slightly. Like all the other rangers, Jack abhorred killing and only did it when _absolutely _necessary.

"Well, it's been fun guys but I've gotta scoot." He said with a grin and holstered his blaster to his thigh. He considered interrogating the creatures to find out where he was but something told him that they probably wouldn't be amenable to questioning. Heck, he doubted that they could speak his language and vice versa.

After four more hours and nearly emptying his canteen, Jack decided to take shelter beneath a small rock outcropping. Night was beginning to fall and the desert went 180 degrees from blistering hot to shivering cold. He huddled his jacket tightly against his body as he leaned his back against the rock; the rock still kept the heat of the day which helped a lot. He also pulled out the space blanket and wrapped it around him. No more of those strange, violent creatures had attacked him for which he was grateful. Still, he couldn't bring himself to sleep in case of other attacks or who knows what else.

Despite his best efforts, sleep came but in intermittent snatches. He had finally gotten into a nice doze when the first rays of day hit him squarely in the face, waking him up. With a groan, he stood up, folded the blanket up and continued walking. He was really starting to hate this planet. He would've gave his right arm for his Delta Runner or one of S.P.D.'s many patrol vehicles. He would've even settled for a bicycle if it meant that he didn't have to walk anymore.

Many more hours of walking later, his journey finally paid dividends when he reached the outskirts of the town. The sounds of mechanical whining, what sounded like animals that he couldn't identify and other chattering greeted him and got louder the closer he got. The smells of the town also got stronger; spices and other aromas wafted into his nostrils confirming that it was definitely no mirage that he was walking towards.

Jack was used to aliens but what he saw when he first entered the town was nothing that was in his experience. His jaw dropped at the amount and variety of species walking around the town. From how it looked to him, this town was some sort of trading outpost. He was jolted out of his reverie as a green skinned humanoid with big black eyes bumped into him as he passed. _Guess manners aren't really common around here _he thought as he passed.

What really brought good cheer to his heart was that he finally determined what was the sound of all that mechanical whining. All sorts of vehicles that hovered sped along the ground. Again he was amazed by the sights he saw. He thought S.P.D., had great technology but these hover vehicles all seemed so common place. Also he saw big craft that looked like spaceships which brought a smile to his face. _Yes, I'll be able to get off this planet! _

All traces of bewilderment disappeared when he saw a group of humans standing around. They were dressed like desert travelers he'd seen in old movies when he was a kid, complete with turbans, desert colored clothes and bandolier belts across their chests. They all carried some sort of strange looking weapon and were chuckling to themselves, probably sharing a private joke.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for the local police station?" Jack asked, walking up to the group of men. They returned his answer with silence and curious stares at his person. "Um...police station? You know, cops, constables?" He gestured toward the badge on his jacket as an example of what he was talking about. The group of men again stared with lack of comprehension for a moment and then roared with laughter. They spoke to him in a tongue that Jack was unfamiliar with. "Guess you guys don't speak English huh?

They turned their backs to him and continued talking amongst themselves. Jack sighed as he turned away and continued to make his way around the city. It was fairly clear that there was no law here or if there was, it was very lackadaisical. Fights broke out between species at odd intervals and Jack thought another couple stabbed each other. He clutched his pack tighter and made sure his blaster was in easy reach.

An oddly familiar sight caught his eye as he made it toward the center of town. A gigantic vehicle at least the size of a three-story house, on tank treads was parked there. Surrounding it were diminutive looking creatures that looked like they obviously owned it. They chattered in a language in high pitched squeaks that matched their size. But what grabbed his attention was the pieces of metal they were clearly hawking for sale. Jack recognized instantly that the metal was parts of his ship.

"_Hey!" _He screamed as he marched over to the little creatures. He saw that the engines, part of the control panel and other pieces of the ship were neatly arrayed out in front of the vehicle. The creatures squeaked at him, gesticulating frantically as if they were trying to get him to buy parts.

"What do you think you're doing! That's my ship!" The creatures continued to squeak. They argued like this for a time, neither understanding the other, or at least he couldn't understand _them. _He wasn't sure if they could understand him but so far he was zero for zero in the communication department.

The sounds of weapons fire interrupted him; he was unfamiliar with the report but he knew weapons fire when he heard it. He also heard explosions; it sounded like a war was going on! His training again kicked in and he ran toward the sounds. To the core he was S.P.D., and he was trained to run _toward _danger, not away from it.

Lasers streaked everywhere as two people fired weapons at three figures robed in black wielding swords that looked to be made of energy. What was shocking to Jack was that two of the robed figures were actually blocking and _reflecting _the shots back toward the shooters! The shooters grabbed cover from the incoming fire that was being returned to them and kept it up. What looked to be the third member of their party, a man with long black hair and brown and white robes that seemed to be too heavy for the climate, wielded a sword like the men in black only his was green as opposed to their blood red.

"Kill them! Lord Malay wants their heads and the bounty is high!" One of the robed figures who was reflecting the shots said. One of those hover vehicles looked like it was levitated by another the other dark fighter not engaged in melee combat. To Jack, the vehicle looked to be at least a ton and he whistled low in amazement as the dark swordsman hurled it at the two gunmen. They scattered just in time before the vehicle hit and exploded but the explosion knocked them off balance.

"Canderous, Earth!" The dark haired figure with the green sword shouted in seeming concern. He snarled and turned back toward his personal battle, fighting with an increased intensity.

"The bounty is as good as ours" the dark swordsman who threw the vehicle said. He slowly approached the two downed fighters with his blade parallel to the ground. "Their heads will look good on Lord Malay's wall."

At first, Jack didn't know who was who or who was evil or who was good. But 1) he hated bounty hunters, _if _that's what they were and 2) there was no excuse for murdering helpless opponents. He heard all he needed to. But if he was going to get involved against guys with energy swords and massive telekinetic powers, he was going to need more than his personal blaster.

Whipping out his morpher he yelled, "S.P.D. Emergency!" A red energy field coalesced around him and formed into the uniform/armor of his Power Ranger form. He was clad in red, silver and black like spandex material with a helmet with a black visor and no visible mouth. At his hips were two blasters that were different in appearance than his personal sidearm and much more powerful.

He grabbed them and fired at the two advancing figures. The swordsmen managed to block his attacks but barely because they were surprised. _Stupid, did you forget that they can block lasers?!_ They turned toward Jack, snarling.

"Why don't you try picking on guys who can defend themselves?" Jack said, holding his blasters. They were about to respond but Jack was already on them both with the enhanced speed and strength granted to him by his Ranger form. Both of them swung at him both high and low but Jack leapt over them with a ten foot high somersault Landing behind them, he kicked one of them hard sending the man flying against the wall. The other one turned around and swung his sword simultaneously which Jack deftly dodged.

The two of them fought, the swordsman snarling and swinging while Jack dodged his attacks. Along with all of his other attributes, Jack's agility was greatly enhanced and he dodged the first few attacks easily but as the fight wore on, the swordsman seemed to be getting quicker and quicker and Jack had increasing trouble avoiding his blows. Jack lanced out with a punch or a kick, making sure not to get parried by the deadly looking energy sword, but his opponent was no slouch in agility either. Not only that, it seemed as if the man was compensating for Jack's moves, almost before he did them even though he was doing his best to vary his attacks.

Finally Jack miscalculated and that, combined with his opponents ever increasing speed, he didn't dodge one of the blows in time. The energy sword cut across his chest with a shower of sparks that send him flying. Intense pain swept over Jack as he hit the ground. _I've never felt anything like that before! _He screamed in his head. Indeed, his Ranger form granted him great resistance to attacks but that one slice had very nearly done him in. He knew he could only take one, maybe two more at the most and he was determined not to take _anymore. _

"Looks like I'll have to use my trump card! _Battlizer_, _Cyber Mode_!" he screamed. Another red and silver energy form coalesced around him. His appearance remained largely unchanged except for silver shoulder pads, but in his hand was a wicked looking sword. "Now we'll fight on equal terms!"

Jack lunged towards the swordsman and he smiled when surprise formed on the features of the swordsman's face for a second time since the Ranger's appearance The man's increased speed was nullified by Jack's amplified speed with the Battilizer. Also his preternatural ability to read Jack's moves also seemed to be gone. It was Jack's turn to land a telling blow; his Ranger-strength enhanced kick caught the dark figure squarely in the jaw. The man flew up about five feet into the air and landed on the ground unconscious.

He whirled around ready to face the second attacker; The man using his freaky powers, leapt into the air, covering a distance of twenty feet with one jump. Jack wondered how anybody could do that outside the Rangers or the monsters he fought. The swordsman landed in front of him. Jack blocked the first few blows and returned a few of his own. Before the fight really got underway, the swordsman was hurled by some unknown force into the wall at high velocity. The sound of breaking bones accompanied the impact and a smear of blood marked the passing of the swordsman's life.

Turning around, Jack saw the man with the black hair and green sword with his hand outstretched. Apparently, he had the same type of powers as the dark swordsmen. At the green sword wielder's feet was the opponent he was fighting; a smoking hole was bored through the center of the swordsman's chest.

"I don't know who you are but thanks for the assistance." The raven-haired man said.

"What's going on here? Why were these men attacking you?" Jack replied, grateful that somebody _finally _spoke English around here and _wasn't _trying to kill him.

"I'd like to stay and explain it to you, but more will be coming. Since you helped us out, its a safe bet that they'll be after you too. You should probably come with us." The man explained. His voice was a deep, rich, charismatic voice which Jack instantly recognized as a tone of leadership.

"Yeah, the Sith don't mess around and they're going to be mighty upset that three of their Dark Jedi are dead." One of the black haired man's companion's said. He had sandy brown hair, blue eyes and wore a silver breast plate. The expression on his face was a smirk which seemed to Jack that was probably perpetually plastered on there.

"If we're done gabbing, can we get out of here please?" The third man said. He was tall and massively muscular. His gray hair was shaped into a crew cut and had piercing black eyes. He wore armor all over his body that looked high tech and he carried a powerful looking rifle. "I mean, if we're done being all polite of course."

"Wait a minute, I didn't kill anybody, there's only two dead 'Jedi,' as you called them."

The gray haired man walked over to the still breathing but unconscious dark swordsman and fired a laser into his head, making him finally still.

"_Now _there's three. Can we go please?"

Jack looked at the huge man in shock and was glad his helmet the expression on his face. It was clear that the "Dark Jedi" were trying to murder this group; the dark haired man seemingly killed his opponent in self-defense and the defense of Jack, but he didn't know if he could stomach the big, gray haired man's methods.

He knew he didn't have much time to decide. He didn't know where he was and within ten minutes of arriving in the strange town, he'd already gotten into a fight and made enemies of some unknown group of people. Too many people had seen him come in and he knew he didn't blend. No doubt some of the townspeople would point him out and his troubles would be only beginning. Not only that, he still had no idea where he was or what he was dealing with and he _still _had a mission to complete. He had to get answers and he wouldn't get them if he was dead or captured.

"Looks like I'll be going with you." Jack said with a resigned sigh, powering down back to his normal form. The three of the men looked at Jack with surprise. "I'm Jack Landors of Space Patrol Delta or S.P.D., for short." He said, extending his hand to the dark haired man.

"I'm... Revan," the dark haired man said slowly, as if trying to get used to his name. "And these are my associates Canderous Ordo," gesturing to the big man, "and Carth Onasi. Now, I'm inclined to take Ordo's advice, let's get out of here."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The crew on board Revan's ship, "The Ebon Hawk" all stared at Jack as he stood in the center of briefing room. He felt as if he were some exotic oddity that nobody had ever seen before which in a way, he was. Sure he was human like the majority of the crew, _if they _are _human, _Jack thought to himself, but he was _definitely _different.

Earth had just pulled the ship out of the docking bay just as more Dark Jedi supported by what Jack heard them referred to as, "Sith" soldiers, showed up. With some clever maneuvering, Earth had even managed to run the blockade of Sith ships in orbit though it hadn't been easy. Even then, the ship had taken some hits which made it shake violently. Jack had been through a lot of combat in his life but never space combat; the experience had frightened him, mostly because he felt so useless and had to rely on somebody else whom he didn't even know, to save the day.

Now that they were free and clear, they had time to speak. Revan who was apparently the leader, gathered the crew together and now here they were. "Well Jack, since you're a guest on-board our ship, let me break the ice and introduce everybody. Of course you know Carth, Canderous and I. The rest of these individuals are, Mission Vao," he gestured to a blue skinned girl with two tentacles growing out of her head. Despite this, she was quite attractive though much too young for Jack tastes.

She smiled and waved. "Hi Jack, nice to meet you. This two meter walking carpet over here is my best friend Zaalbar." she said, motioning to the seven foot tall living embodiment of the Sasquatch. Zaalbar roared with so much bass it made Jack's chest tremble. Zaalbar seemed very protective of Mission and purposefully moved closer to her. "Oh quit it you furry oaf! Jack's alright! He saved the others remember? You've gotta learn how to trust people sometime."

Revan smiled and shook his head, refreshed by the humor on the mostly grim ship. "If I may continue," he said still smiling and casting Mission a look that made her chuckle. "The older gentleman over there is Jolee Bindo,"

The dark-skinned man with balding gray hair had his chin leaning against his chest. He snapped his head up at the mention of his name. "Wha? Oh, hello there. It's a pleasure to meet you." He said absently. Though he tried to give off the impression of a doddering old man, Jack sensed there was more to him that met the eye. Like Revan, he wore robes and carried the hilt of one of those energy swords he saw in action earlier. He'd been with S.P.D., for a long time and was trained to spot deception from criminals trying to hide something. He didn't believe Bindo's act for one minute.

"This is the newly assembled, HK-47." Revan continued, pointing to a red colored robot that was nearly the size of Zaalbar. The robot's head whirred as it turned in Jack's direction.

"Sarcastic statement: Great, another meat-bag Querying statement: Master, are we going to continue to pick up strays on our journey?" the robot said; its eyes glowed every time it spoke. Jack was used to robots though none with a...sense of humor. He found that it made him uncomfortable. There was something about HK-47 that gave him the willies.

"Don 't listen to him," Revan said, waving HK-47 off. He turned and motioned toward a female who also wore the same type of robes, only red and color and also carried an energy sword hilt. "This is Juhanee."

Juhanee smiled, showing canines that fit her feral appearance "You arrrre intriguing huuman. You are not like the otherrrs." She said with hisses and drawing out certain vowels and syllables. Jack surmised that her race shared certain qualities with felines. He smiled and nodded at Juhanee in return. She gave him a quizzical look and turned toward Jolee who caught her glance. He gave an almost imperceptible nod but continued to look straight ahead.

What really caught Jack's eye was a tall, athletic woman who was strikingly beautiful. Her hair which was naturally long was bound up on the top of her head. She sat in the corner of the briefing room crosslegged. She looked at Jack with an indifferent expression on her face. Revan followed Jack's gaze and said, "This is Bastila Shan." She too wore robes but hers were a darker brown in color than Revan's and much more form fitting, showing off her lithe figure. She also carried a hilt but hers was noticeably longer than the others. Jack wondered why that was.

"And finally, this is T-3, our utility droid. C'mon T-3, don't be shy." He said, indicating towards a robot that was no taller than a kitchen trashcan. In fact to Jack, that's what T-3 resembled. He chuckled at the analogy as T-3 beeped at him with almost a curious tone.

"Now that the introductions have been made, it's your turn. Who are you, why did you decide to help us?" Carth interjected. His abrupt manner earned him a sidelong glance from Bastila and Revan.

Jack shrugged. "Yeah, I figure I owe you that much. Well like I told you, Canderous and Revan earlier, my name is Jack Landors of Space Patrol Delta or S.P.D. I'm a Power Ranger." He looked around the room and was curious why nobody reacted at the mention of his occupation.

"What's a 'Power Ranger?'" Mission asked, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"You've never heard of Power Rangers?" Jack was genuinely puzzled. _Everybody _had heard of the Power Rangers no matter which generation they were, or so he thought until now. "Well," he continued cautiously. "The Power Rangers are sworn to defend the galaxy from all kinds of threats, especially S.P.D., we police and protect the Earth and the galaxy."

"Oh, so you're like Jedi then?" Jolee spoke up.

"I...suppose. What are Jedi?"

It was their turn to be surprised. They looked at each other, silently murmuring. "You've never heard of Jedi? Curious..." Jolee said, stroking his gray beard. "That can be explained later, please continue."

Jack nodded and took Jolee's cue. "Anyhow, I was on a mission to transport a prisoner from the prison planet Golgos when my ship hit some sort of...anomaly. I got knocked out and the next then I new, I was on that planet where I ran into you guys." The whole time that he'd been talking, he kept his eyes on the group but specifically Jolee and Revan; his eyes darted between the two of them. Revan's expression showed no hints of betraying his feelings and Jolee merely nodded.

"And you say you're from...'Earth?'" Jolee asked.

"Yeah, and I have to get back there. But I still have a mission to complete. If you guys can just show me where I'm at in this galaxy that would help out a lot."

"That may be a problem." Revan spoke up.

"What? Why?" Jack asked, feeling his heart speed up, knowing that he probably wasn't going to like the answer.

"Well, the problem is is that nobody has ever heard of this 'Earth.'" Carth said which made Jack whip his head toward him.

"Come again?" He asked, with stress clearly in his voice. He tried to control his fear like he was taught but he was having some difficulties.

"I said, _nobody _has ever heard of this planet called 'Earth."

"But it's in the Milky Way galaxy! It's the third planet from the sun which we call 'Sol."

"Not ringing a bell." Carth said. "Never even heard of the 'Milky Way galaxy either. I've flown from one end of this galaxy to the next and I've _never _heard of anything you're talking about. Not these 'Power Rangers' or 'Earth.' Guys, I think this guy's a little crazy... or a Sith spy!"

That got everybody's volumes raised from murmurs to near shouting. Revan raised his hands for silence. "That's quite an accusation Carth There's no reason to believe he's a Sith. We have no evidence." Revan said calmly.

"Yeah, besides, didn't he help you guys down on Tattooine, not more than an hour ago?" Mission said, chiming in.

"So what if he helped us? Aren't the Sith really big on deception? Do you think they aren't above wasting three of their own to get to us?"

Again everybody talked among themselves but Revan put the room in order by the calm of his voice. "Carth if he were a Sith spy, why wait till now to try to infiltrate? He could've done that on Manaan or any of the other planets we visited. Plus, I don't sense any ill-intent from our visitor. What do the rest of you say?"

The dark-haired Jedi looked around the room specifically at the others in the robes who from what Jack could tell by context clues, were also Jedi.

"Though I sense...something else, deception is not it. In fact, the lad is quite sincere from the way he talks and from what I glean from his feelings." Jolee remarked.

"Agrrreed. I do not sense evil from him." Juhanee added.

"Nor do I...Revan." Bastila said. When she said that though, Jack caught a look between Bastila and Revan that seemed...well, uncomfortable. Jack just quite put his finger on it.

"That's four Jedi, Carth, that says he's alright. If he really wanted us dead, he would've helped out the Dark Jedi back there. They were handing us our heads. With his abilities he definitely would've tipped the tide in their favor." Revan said.

"Sure, like the Jedi have never gotten _anything _wrong." Carth muttered casting a look toward Revan which made the dark-haired Jedi look away momentarily. Then Carth continued, "Okay, if you guys vouch for him, fine. I've just had my fair share of betrayal thank you very much. "I'm watching you, 'Jack' just so you know. What kind of name is 'Jack' anyway?"

"What kind of name is 'Carth?'" Jack retorted.

They all turned and watched him sulk out of the meeting room toward the cockpit.

"What's his problem?" Jack asked without any sarcasm in his voice but concern.

"It's been a stressful mission. Carth had somebody very close to him to whom he looked up to, betray him. He's pretty hesitant to trust any outsiders right now." Bastila said.

Revan nodded sympathetically and took a deep breath, indicating that the interrogation wasn't over yet. "That still doesn't change the fact that he's right about one thing. Nobody has heard of Earth, the Milky Way, or Power Rangers. Look, I don't doubt your story or at least that you believe that its true."

"But it is! You've gotta believe me! Look, let me at your star-charts and I'll show you." Revan nodded and motioned for Jack to follow him to the bridge. Bastila followed behind them at a cautious distance as well as T-3.

After a few minutes of staring at the star-charts stored on the "Ebon Hawk's" computer, Jack looked puzzled and frustrated. "I don't recognize _any _of these star systems!" A flash of inspiration hit him and he pulled out his datapad. "T-3, you're a walking computer right? Can you plug into this datapad and cross reference the information on it with the Ebon Hawk's computers?"

T-3 beeped wildly which Jack took as "Yes." He handed the pad to the little robot which took it with a metal claw-like hand. A probe from T-3's head inserted into the pad which made the robot beep crazily.

"Wha-what's happening?" Jack said, bewildered.

"Don't worry, he's just processing the information." Revan said reassuringly.

A few moments later, a holographic display showed up on the meeting room table. Two sets of star-charts, Jack's and the Ebon Hawk's were contrasted with each other.

"It looks like T-3 was able to find a answer to all of our questions." Carth said. "If I'm reading this right, he took the nearest 'spacemark' and cross referenced it with all known information. There's an ancient pulsar that he's using as a reference and traversing this line of travel..." Carth traced his finger along the path illuminated on the holo display. "It looks like Earth is approximately..." he whistled softly. "eight _billion _light years away."

Jack looked crestfallen and slumped against the table as he mouthed the words "eight billion" silently over and over.

"I'm sorry I doubted you Jack." Carth said sincerely. Jack merely nodded as he stared at the ground.

Mission came over and laid a hand on Jack's shoulder. He noted how warm and soft it was despite his depression. "Hey, cheer up Jack! Every one's had hard luck at one time or another. Heck, all of us in this room can preach to that! But if you got here, there's gotta be a way back right? All we have to do is find it, we'll help you! Right gang?"

Except for Canderous and HK-47, the others nodded.

"Mission is right, if you got here, there's got to be a way back. Logic dictates as such. Besides, you saved our lives, we owe it to you to help you." Revan said. Didn't you say you hit an anomaly during your mission?"

Jack began to perk up. He still was shaken but he recovered some of his spirits thanks to Mission and Revan. "Y-yeah. I can't tell you where it was or what it was; it looked like some kind of hole in space or something. The computers on my ship may have recorded some information on it but they were trashed in the crash."

"Well that's the best clue that we've got. But we can't go back to Tatooine, there's still way too much heat on us." Carth said.

"Carth is right. We'll find a way but first thing's first. We've got a threat right here and now and we can sure use your help Jack." Revan said, this time laying a hand on Jack's shoulder. "You help us with ours and we'll help you with yours, deal?"

It didn't take Jack long to come to a decision. It's not like he had much of a choice anyway. "You've got a deal."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"So you're saying you 'Jedi' are like Power Rangers?" Jack said as he talked to Jolee and Juhanee.

"If what you say is true, and I have no reason to doubt you, yes we are like your 'Power Rangers.' The Jedi are sworn to protect the galaxy from all threats. But our primary enemy are the followers of the Dark Side of the Force, most notably the Sith."

Jack sat intrigued. For the past hour and a half, he, Jolee and Juhanee had traded information on each others galaxies and histories. Jack found himself fascinated with the Jedi and the goings on of this galaxy. "You said the Force is what powers you guys? That's why you and those Dark Jedi could do what you can do? You control it?"

Jolee chuckled. Jack sounded just like the many Padawan learners he had mentored over the years He glanced at Juhanee who gave an understanding, predatory grin in return. "Yes and no. We control it but it also controls us. It's a symbiotic relationship. We listen to it and it guides us. While the Sith see it as a tool for power."

"Yeessss, the Dark Jedi only demonstrated a fraction of the true power of the Dark Side." She said; Jack thought how she said it, she seemed to know the subject very intimately.

"But how does that work? You control it and it controls you? I still don't get it."

"Well the Force flows through all..." Jolee stopped himself right there and looked away.

"What is it?"

"It...It's nothing." He continued his lecture on the Force. After awhile Jack had to stop him because he felt tired though he found it quite fascinating but he had to admit that Jolee could be a little long-winded. He excused himself and sat down in the engine compartment that he shared with T-3 since all the berthing had been filled up. The crew found him a blanket and a pillow which he accepted gladly; he'd slept on much worse over the years.

Meanwhile up on the bridge, Revan and Carth was joined by Jolee.

"Quite an amazing individual that Jack is." Jolee said.

"Yes he is," Revan replied absently.

"You _do _get my meaning don't you?"

After a moment, Revan paused then nodded. Yes, I sensed it too. Or lack thereof.

"What are you guys talking about?" Carth asked, genuinely confused.

"The Force flows through all living things...except him." Jolee said frankly.

Carth was usually bewildered when it came to Jedi talk but now he was just clearly lost. "Wait a minute, what are you saying? That Jack's dead somehow? That's he's a ghost or some sort of...cyborg?"

Revan chuckled and shook his head. "No, that's not what Jolee is saying at all. Jack is clearly alive and human but for some reason, the Force doesn't flow through him like it does a normal person. That means..."

"I'm not sure what it means and its probably not a good time to speculate on it right now. We've got other concerns."

Nodding, Revan turned back toward the streaking stars that signified that they were still traveling through hyperspace. "Yes Jolee, you're right. Our concentration would be best spent on the task at hand." He said. He embodied that statement better than anybody thanks to what he learned only a few days ago. He sat and stared at the passing stars, lost in thought, not hearing the others around him continue to talk. He glanced back to see Bastila walking toward her quarters. She paused and briefly glanced at Revan. The two of them locked eyes momentarily and then she left. Revan sighed and turned his attention back toward the cockpit window.

An alarm rang, jolting Jack out of his sleep. He had already slept fitfully throughout the night, no thanks to the engines and the hard grating of the floor digging into his back. Groggily, he got up and stretched, letting the kinks work themselves out of his back. He strapped his blaster onto his hip and put on his uniform jacket before stepping out of the engine hatch.

The crew was already gathered by the time he got to the meeting room. A holographic representation of a planet floated above the table in its full three dimensions. Jack smiled as he looked at the map; S.P.D. Headquarters had something similar and he felt a wave a nostalgia wash over him.

"Jack, thanks for joining us" Revan said in way of greeting. The rest of the crew looked at Jack and greeted him in various ways from nodding to murmured vocal greetings. They all turned back to the map; Jack sidled up next to Mission who in turn grinned when he got next to her. Zaalbar flanked her and visibly bristled.

Waving his hand over the map, manipulating it, Revan enhanced a certain part of the planet's surface. "We're going to Manaan, specifically this section right here." He said, pointing for everybody to see. Zaalbar's roar sounded a lot like a grimace.

"Don't worry you big furball, we'll be inside a facility so you don't have to worry about getting your fur wet." Mission said, stroking her gigantic friend along his arm.

"Mission's right, the facility is above the surface." Revan said chuckling. "Manaan is considered a neutral world, the Republic and the Sith have embassies here and both try to sway the government to join their side."

Raising a hand in confusion, Jack said, "Wait a minute, I thought the Sith were evil? They actually have _embassies_ when they're being hunted and brought to justice?"

Nodding, Revan spread his arms and shrugged. "Galactic politics is very complex in general. Yes they are evil but they're also a recognized government even though they're direct rivals of the Republic. Because they supply Kolto,"

Jack was about to ask another question but Bastila said, "Kolto is a substance that aids in healing. Its found in all medipacs. Its vital for both armies so Manaan can afford to stay neutral in their politics since its benefits them financially to sell to both sides." Jack nodded in understanding.

"Exactly Bastila, we can't expect too much help from the Manaan government on this one."

"Things would be so simple if we can just go in there and destroy them but the politicians _love _to play their games." Canderous muttered.

Again Revan nodded and continued on. "But that also works in our favor. We won't have to worry about a firefight with every single step we take. In theory, everybody should be on their best behavior. The last clue I got from the Star Map on Tattooine was that the fourth map is somewhere on Manaan but of course there was no specific location listed. It'll be up to us to track it down."

He turned away from the map and looked at the group. "I want Jolee and Carth with me. The rest of you, disperse from the ship and see what you can find out. We go planet-side in twenty minutes. Dismissed!"

From the force in his voice, Revan reminded Jack of Commander Cruger a little. He wondered if Revan was actually using The Force in his voice to get his orders across. From what he understood from Jolee, it could do many things including influence the minds of others. He decided against it however; Jack had seen how the others looked to Revan; his leadership was borne of trust and respect, not of force or meddling with others' minds.

The others left the meeting room. As Jack began to leave Revan said, "Hold up a minute Jack."

"What's up?"

"You haven't even asked what this mission's about, why?"

Jack smiled. "I'm not one for blindly following somebody but I'm a good judge of people. They trust you and you wouldn't ask anything of anybody unless it was really important. I gather that this mission your on affects the lives of many people. I've only met you the other day but somehow I can feel that I trust you."

At first Revan didn't know what to make of Jack's words but then he softened. "Thanks Jack, that means a lot to me, you'll never know. Even still, You deserve to know what you're getting into and why we're doing this, especially after saving our lives earlier.

"We've been on a quest to locate these 'Star Maps' which point the direction of a powerful weapon known as 'The Star Forge.' My former apprentice Darth Malay is looking for this weapon too. With it, he can create an army so vast and powerful that nothing in the galaxy will be able to stop it.

"We discovered the first map on Dantooine..." Revan paused for a moment as if the memory pained him and then continued. "Then on Kashyyk, Korriban and finally Tattooine The last map points to Manaan. We were on our way there when we had a run in with my former apprentice and his ship the Leviathan. Luckily we escaped and to throw him off our trail, we backtracked to Tattooine where we found you."

The whole time Revan had been talking, Jack had been standing with his back leaning against the holo-table with his arms crossed. He nodded as he mentally put the pieces together. "Thank you for sharing this information. I knew what I'd be doing was dangerous. But you've gotta remember, I'm trained for danger," Jack said with a glib smile. Revan nodded chuckling. "Whatever happens, I'm with you on this Revan. You can count on me."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Twenty minutes later, The Ebon Hawk touched down a docking bay on Maanan. Jack had only been to a couple of different planets and never one that was almost entirely ocean. He knew the Earth's surface was 70% water but according to the computer, Maanan was 95% ocean which he found incredible.

Revan, Jolee and Carth went one way while Jack, Bastila and Mission went another. Jack caught another one of those awkward glances between Bastila and Revan before they separated. He was inclined to ask what that was about but he decided to mind his business; he remembered that he was still a newcomer. Mission apparently caught the glance too because she looked at Jack with a questioning expression to which he could only reply with a shrug.

With Bastila leading the way, the three of them explored the plaza. It was surmised that their best place to search for answers would be library or some other place where historical records would be kept. The Selkath were interesting creatures to Jack; for some reason they reminded him of dogs but aquatic and had scaly skin. He was just glad that they had Bastila along who spoke their language because they babbled in some sort of tongue that he of course couldn't understand.

Shortly later, the intrepid trio discovered the hall of records and Jack found himself pouring over a tome written in a language that he couldn't understand. He felt completely useless and wished he'd gone with Revan. His teammate and resident genius, Bridge Carson would've been a much better fit for this assignment.

Fortunately for him, he didn't have to be impatient for long; Mission cried out in success with a hushed whisper. Bastila and Jack went over to her in curiosity.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Another clue, I 'sliced' the computer," Jack figured "slicing" was this galaxy's term for "hacking." "And found a historical document of strange construction underneath the surface of this very facility!"

"Good work Mission" Bastila said. Even with her controlled, cultured voice, there was still the hint of excitement mixed in there. "Contact Revan and the others. Tell them to contact the Republic Embassy, they may be able to assist." Mission nodded and did as she was instructed. As she did, Bastila turned to Jack and said, please radio the rest of the group and tell them to assemble on the Ebon Hawk if they're not already there."

Nodding, Jack pulled out his communicator. Before they went to the planet's surface, Mission gave him the frequency to the team's internal comms. He was surprised that his S.P.D. Morpher which doubled as his communicator was able to hone in on the frequency at first, figuring that in this galaxy, they would use some sort of exotic type of propagation. He was relieved when he found that they didn't as if confirming that the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

As he was contacting the others, he noticed something odd. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Selkath clerk staring intently at him for a moment and then glancing down. He wondered what the deal was with that; he didn't think he looked any odder than the other many travelers from other worlds that he'd seen walking around on the facility. Shrugging, he didn't pay too much mind to it.

They started to make their way back to the docking bay; Jack wished that they had more time to explore the exotic facility but waved it away. He made himself remember that he was on a mission, not a sight-seeing tour. Besides, it beat staying on the ship and he _did _get to see a little of the place which was much better than nothing. _Wait till I tell Z! _He thought to himself, thinking of his best friend and fellow teammate, Elizabeth "Z" Delgado. The thought brought a slight grin to his face.

There was only a nanosecond between the warning from Bastila who screamed, "_Look out!_" and the concussive force of an explosion. Reacting with trained reflexes, Jack threw himself to the ground right when he heard Bastila's warning. Mission wasn't as fast or well trained but fortunately, she caught only a fraction of the blast since she was bringing up the rear of the group. Even still, she slightly stirred as she tried to gather her wits together.

Black smoke filled the air causing Jack and Bastila to cough. His ears still rung from the explosion and he shook his head to try to clear the cobwebs infesting his brain. When the smoke cleared slightly, though his vision was still blurry, he caught the sight of thirty men clad in silvery armor holding blaster rifles. "In the name of the Sith, you are under arrest for being accomplices to the ones who broke into the Sith Embassy and murdered fifteen Sith personnel!" Bastila and Jack looked at each other in confusion, wondering what in the world they were talking about. But before either of them could say anything, the Sith soldiers opened fire.

Like lighting, Bastila ignited her lightsaber; hers was unlike the previous models he'd seen before. It was a gigantic two-bladed weapon which she handled with a grace that reminded Jack of a dancer. She shifted into Form Three, Soresu, and deflected the incoming red lasers with her green colored weapon.

"Jack, take Mission and get out of here!" She screamed as she continued to deflect shots. Some of the shots she blocked, she reflected back to their original senders, a feat that Jack was in awe of even though he'd seen it before with Revan.

Ignoring Bastila's order, Jack pulled out his blaster and started firing. Mission had fully recovered from the shock of the blast and pulled out her blaster and started firing as well. During the fight, it was then that he caught sight of four dark robed Dark Jedi standing in the back. _She's good and powerful but there's no way she'll survive this alone! _He surmised. _Even if the Sith soldiers don't get lucky and cut her down, she'll still be outnumbered with those Dark Jedi in the back. We need additional firepower! _

Holding out his morpher, he screamed "SPD Emergency!" He transformed into his Red Ranger form and stood next to Bastila. "No way Bastila, friends stand together!" he shouted. Holding a fist into the air he shouted "SWAT Mode!" A red glow enveloped him again and then coalesced around him in the form of additional armor covering his chest, arms and legs with a stylized "1" as an emblem on his chest. A tactical headset was on the left side of his helmet with a highly technical sensor on the right side. In his hands, he held a gigantic battle rifle known as the "Delta Enforcer."

Rushing into the fray he fired the Delta Enforcer, downing several Sith soldiers. They returned fire but he shrugged off their shots thanks to the additional armor. Still, their fire was highly concentrated and he knew that soon that the combined firepower would overload his armor. He leaped eight meters into the air and somersaulted in the midst of them.

Like a whirlwind, he alternated between lashing out with the Delta Enforcer as a melee weapon, throwing the occasional roundhouse kick and firing his rifle. In closed quarters, the Sith soldiers firepower didn't account for much. Some of them withdrew melee weapons which Jack recognized as "vibroblades," the same kinds of weapons that Mission and Zaalbar carried as backups.

Two Sith soldiers came at him with the blades which he parried with Delta Enforcer while simultaneously lashing out with a back-kick at a soldier behind him. Striking one of them in the jaw with the butt of the Enforcer, he took advantage of the foe's staggered state. He took two steps, used the Sith's knee and chest to boost off of and leapt eight meters into the air again, but this time backward. In mid-air, he fired the Delta Enforcer in a spray of high powered lasers into the massed crowd of Sith.

Meanwhile, Mission took pot-shots at the Sith soldiers. While their attention was focused on Jack and Bastila, she picked off soldiers who were too stupid to evade incoming fire. She managed to kill the man who apparently led the soldiers with a well placed shot to the head. During the engagement, she couldn't help but marvel at Bastila and her show of Jedi prowess. She especially marveled at Jack from his transformations to his incredible combat abilities and sheer firepower.

Using the momentary shift in the momentum of battle, Bastila also leapt into the fray with a ten meter jump of her own. She was a blur of movement, her green double-bladed lightsaber the only guide to following her movements. She easily shifted between Form Three and Form Four, Niman. Between Jack and Bastila, the Sith soldiers were completely decimated, mere moments from when the battle first began. They ended up side by side, both panting from their exertions.

"You fight well Jack Landors!" She breathed.

"Likewise Bastila!" He said, through his helmet and giving the thumb's up sign.

"Your camaraderie is touching but will be short-lived. " One of the Dark Jedi said, his voice flat and menacing. "Kill them."

The voice made Jack look up. If his helmet didn't hide his features, the look of his surprise would have been evident to everybody; he recognized the source of the voice. "No, it can't be! Dru!?" He exclaimed.

Any answer that would've been given was lost in the rush the three Dark Jedi charging Jack and Bastila. Leaping, Bastila met their charge head on. Her double-bladed lightsaber made her able to attack and parry two of the attackers blows simultaneously. She shifted stances gracefully; she started out with Form Four, making full use of the form and the double-bladed lightsaber which took advantage of it, and Form Five, Djem So. The Dark Jedi were good but were obviously inexperienced at dealing with so many shifting forms at once.

While his two friends dealt with Bastila, the third Dark Jedi attacked Jack. Instead of using his lightsaber, he instead lashed out with bright blue, bolts of lighting. Jack was unprepared for the assault and the attack hit him full force. He screamed in surprise as the bolts him but fortunately his SWAT armor bore the brunt of it.

Another lighting attack shot out but this time Jack was able to dodge by leaping over it and returning the fire with some of his own with the Delta Enforcer. The Dark Jedi laughed as he swatted the incoming blasts away with his lightsaber. Jack fired again, this time in rapid succession which the opponent again blocked and even reflected. Fortunately the reflected shots missed Jack. He didn't realize that this was a feint however; Jack followed up with a flying, bicycle kick right after the last bolt was fired. The kicks caught the Sith full in the chest which caused him to stagger into the nearby wall.

A wave of force washed over Jack, slamming him into the opposite wall with incredible force, temporarily knocking the wind out of him. Right as Jack looked up while trying to figure out what hit him, the streak of a red lightsaber whirling toward him caught his attention. He was unable to get out of the way of the attack in time and the blade caught him full in the chest. He screamed in agony and slumped to the ground. The SWAT Armor disappeared and he clutched his chest.

Standing over him was the leader of the Dark Jedi. He lifted his hood back to reveal the face that Jack was familiar with. He had brown hair and boyish face. He would've passed for a human if not for the four vestigial horns on each eyebrow. His face wore a demonic grin that belied the innocence his face would've otherwise protested. "Well, well, they'll let _anybody _into this universe won't they? I figured SPD would always try to get their man but boy, you guys take it to extremes!" The tip of the red lightsaber in his hand menacingly touched the ground causing smoke to appear where it burned the surface.

Despite his best efforts, the Dark Jedi was no match for Bastila. He snarled and lashed out with a wave of Dark Side energy but Bastila easily cocooned herself with a shield of Light Side energy; the blast glanced harmlessly off of her. Running through the Dark Jedi's attack, she parried his incoming blow of his lightsaber, spun around and impaled the hapless foe through the chest with the other blade.

"Jack!" Mission screamed in fear.

The female Jedi turned around thanks to Mission's cry to see the leader of the Dark Jedi, standing over Jack with his weapon raised.

"No!" She screamed as she lashed out with The Force. A wave of telekinetic energy rushed at the black clad figure but he dodged by leaping over it. She could actually hear him snarl as he dodged the attack. He landed in a ready position with his lightsaber out. The distraction had given Jack the time he needed to recover from the evil man's attack and he got to his feet. He was still a little wobbly but righted himself immediately, pulling out his laser blasters.

"Only a fool fights against odds that he cannot win" the Dark Jedi said as he eyed the three of them. "My master Darth Bandon taught me that, but we will meet again, that I promise you!" He turned toward Jack and pointed with his weapon. "You on the other hand are living on borrowed time 'Ranger.' I'll be seeing you soon."

Before anybody could rush him, the Dark Jedi sprinted down the hallways in a blur of speed that was preternatural. Instantly, Jack gave up any hope of trying to catch up to him and he cursed the dark robed figure, slamming his fist into his open palm in frustration.

"We'll never catch him now" Bastila said as if to herself, deactivating her weapon. "So he's a student of Darth Bandon; this has gotten a lot more complicated." She turned to Jack and raised a quizzical eyebrow. "He talked as if he knew you."

"And how did he know _what _you are?" Mission chimed in, holstering her blasters.

Jack powered down; with his helmet gone, the two women could see the serious expression on his face as he held onto his frustration. "Because he's the man I was sent to bring in." The two of them looked at Jack in shock. "That was Dru."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The Ebon Hawk streaked away from Maanan, breaking the planet's orbit shortly before entering hyperspace. The crew sat in the meeting room, debriefing each other over what happened while they were planet-side. They were an awe of each others tales; Jolee had helped an innocent Republic soldier get free of murder as a favor to an old friend of his. Meanwhile, Carth and Revan helped some Selkath that were being brainwashed to help the Sith, escape from their clutches. After these separate adventures, they turned their attention to the Star Map. despite the danger, they were in good cheer from surviving yet another deadly situation. The only one that abstained from the joy in the room was Jack. He sat with head leaned up against the wall in deep thought.

"So we found the Star Map on the ocean floor; you were right Mission, Bastila. The Republic Embassy lent us the use of their submersible and we managed to get down there with only... a little difficulty." Revan said, finishing his story.

"Difficulty defined as killing a bunch of Sith in their embassy?" Mission said with a smirk.

"How did you know about that?" Carth said with surprise in his voice.

"A large group of Sith soldiers along with Dark Jedi tried to kill us on our way back to the Ebon Hawk." Bastila said. "One of them apparently was an apprentice of Darth Bandon and was quite powerful."

Revan nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, that would coincide with what happened to us earlier. We had to break into the Sith Embassy to get droid parts that they had that proved a Sith plot in trying to rule Manaan. Unfortunately violence was involved." He paused to take a breath and continued. "After we found the map and left the embassy, we ran into Darth Bandon right outside. He tried to kill us be we stopped him. I didn't know he had an apprentice though."

"You should've seen Jack and Bastila go, they were awesome!" Mission gushed; she'd been waiting to talk for a long time and finally got the opportunity. I've never seen anything like it and I've been partnered up with you for a little while now Revan...er...no offense."

Smiling Revan waved the remark away. "None taken, Mission. Jack is indeed a powerful warrior. I'm glad he's on our side."

"Mission helped out too. She really saved our lives back there." Jack chimed in, slowly coming out of his funk. The Twilek beamed at Jack in appreciation.

"Jack also apparently knows Bandon's apprentice." Bastila said.

Everybody in the room turned toward Jack in surprise. He responded with a nod. "Yeah, that's right. The man's name is Dru, he was the one I was supposed to track down and bring back to prison before I ended up here. Evidently he ended up here also and he's sporting powers that I've never known him to possess before."

Bastila nodded in confirmation. "Yes, he was trained in the ways of the Dark Side and also quite strong in it as well." As she said this, she looked at Jack and fixed him with a slightly puzzled look before turning to look at the other Jedi in the room. They too shared the same look.

The memory of the earlier events caused Jack to wince not only in pain but from embarrassment as well. When he came out of his reverie, he noticed the looks on the Jedi's faces. "Okay, what's up? What are you not telling me?"

Jolee held up a hand before anybody else could speak. "Maybe I should be the one to go first." He came over and sat down next to Jack in a fatherly manner. "Remember when I told you that the Force flows through all things?"

"Yeah sure, I remember."

"Well...how can I put this? We don't feel the Force flowing through you."

Jack's jaw dropped as he struggled to comprehend Jolee's words. "But that would be impossible unless... unless I'm dead?"

Chuckling, he patted Jack's shoulder. "No, no! Not that dear boy, you are very much, quite alive and real as well. No, the only explanation I can think of is that you're not of _this _universe!"

Shaking his head, Jack replied, "But that's impossible. Yeah T-3 determined I was from _far away, _but eight billion light years doesn't equal another universe...does it?"

"No not in astronomical terms. I think there's an explanation for this actually. It's true that T-3 was able to find markers that indicators that both universes share but I think its because your universe mirrors ours. You come from an alternate universe that shares some similarities with our universe but is different. That is the only way I can explain how the Force doesn't flow through you."

"This is not without precedent you know? Its been theorized that Black Holes are gateways to different dimensions," Carth said, speaking up. "It's possible that you ran into one of these and hurtled you not only spatially but dimensionally as well."

"Great, not only am I eight billion light years away from home, I'm also stuck in an alternate dimension." Jack muttered. His face wrinkled suddenly as he had a thought. "But that doesn't explain how the Force flows through _Dru _then. He's from the same universe as me, that shouldn't be possible should it?"

Shrugging, Jolee said, "I don't know, son. Its only a theory that I have that seems to make the most sense. But like any theory, it has to be proven or disproven first, its not fact."

"Unless Dru is not of your universe but of ours." Bastila said, leaning up against a bulkhead. "How much do you know of Dru?"

"Yes, what can you tell us about your foe? Any information you can provide can only help us." Revan said in a coaxing tone.

All the people in the meeting room leaned in as they listened. Jack regaled them with the tale of how he first met Dru and how he used to be Power Ranger who went missing in action only to return years later. In those missing years however, Dru had changed...or maybe his true colors finally manifested themselves. Using his friendship with Jack's teammate, Sky, Dru very nearly destroyed the Rangers. Thanks to Sky however, he managed to capture the wayward Ranger and put him in prison.

"Do you know anything about his childhood? His life before he joined your...'Rangers?'" Bastila asked.

Admittedly, Jack didn't. He had studied Dru's file intensely but there was precious little about his childhood or life before the Power Rangers. In fact, all he knew was from the file and what Sky had told him years ago. But memories began to surface that began to lend credence to Jolee's theory. His mind flashed back to a friendly shooting competition between Dru and himself in the SPD Command Center's training room.

"_Great shooting Jack, perfect score." Sky said. Jack had just shot three target drones out of the sky with ease._

"_Thanks! Want to try Dru?" Jack said, offering Dru his blaster. Sky merely chuckled._

"_I dunno, its been awhile since I shot...but sure why not?" Dru replied albeit hesitantly._

"_Okay, hold on, let me reload. This thing only has one shot left." _

_"__One shot is _all _I need." Sky and Jack looked at Dru in surprise. With a shrug, Jack offered Dru the blaster. Sky released the drones into the sky. With a quick combat roll, Dru blew away all three drones with an impossible shot leaving Jack laughed again, knowing what would happen._

Jolee had told Jack that the Force enables the user to do truly amazing things. What Jack saw that day was nothing short of the definition of "amazing" but he chalked it up to Dru having some sort of genetic power. He told the group the story and the Jedi sat and nodded. Now that Jolee had said it, maybe it wasn't impossible that Dru had come to Jack's universe as a child and grew up there.

"He's an additional threat not only because he's been trained in the Dark Side, but also has had SPD training." Jack said with his hand on his chin. He was top of his class according to Sky which means he's familiar with all of my moves.

"And we've seen the results of your training, Jack." Revan said, inclining his head. "Yes, he will be a formidable threat indeed. If only we could train you in the ways in the Force, you could counteract him."

Jack merely shrugged. "We Power Rangers have a saying, 'never say die.' Okay Dru is powerful, but none of us in this room are slouches in that department ourselves. I'll make do and improvise. I've been in some tight spots before and have always come through." His words were confident and indeed he even felt confident but not as confident as he would have liked.

"What's our next move?" Canderous said, breaking the silence.

"Isn't it obvious?" Revan replied. "We head toward the Unknown World, as indicated on the Star Map."

Later, Jack found himself on his makeshift bed, unable to sleep even though he was exhausted. It wasn't the steady thrumming of the engines or the hard surface of the floor; his mind was too active with everything he had learned and experienced in the last forty-eight hours. He sighed as he stared up at the ceiling of the engine room.

The sound of the hatch sliding opened startled him out of his thoughts. He turned toward the sound to find Bastila standing there.

"I hope I am not disturbing you?" She said in her accent that to Jack, sounded slightly British.

He sat up on his haunches, grateful to get his back off the floor grating. "No, you're not. Actually I can't sleep." he replied. It still amazed him that he was over eight billion light years away from home but yet there were still humans that spoke English and even had accents similar to home. "How can I help you?"

She seemed hesitant at first as she stood in the doorway. It was a sharp contrast to the overwhelming air of confidence she projected earlier. In the ambient light outside the hatch that cast on her from an angle, she looked like an angel to Jack. He shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts from his mind.

"I know this seems like an odd request coming from somebody that you do not even know but...can we talk?"

It was indeed an odd request but Jack was never one to turn down somebody in need, especially from someone as beautiful as Bastila. He nodded and she stepped into the room, the hatch sliding shut behind her. She sat down crosslegged about a meter across from Jack.

"What's the matter?" he asked, getting the sense that whatever it was, was tearing Bastila apart inside.

"It's just that I have nobody else to talk to about this..." she began. "First of all, I wanted to personally thank you for your actions on Maanan. If it wasn't for you, I would have perished. Revan is right when he says you are quite the formidable warrior. I think because I've seen you in action, you have gained my trust."

"Bastila, you're babbling." Jack said, with a smile. He was slightly embarrassed with all the praise that was being heaped on him lately.

"You're right." She said with a shy smile which Jack found attractive. "I'll get to the point. I'm sure you've seen and sensed the uncomfortable moments between Revan and myself lately, why he didn't ask me to go with him on Manaan to find the Star Map."

Jack had indeed wondered about that but bit his tongue earlier. Instead of asking, he let her continue since she was leading up to it anyway.

"On-board the Leviathan, the ship that captured us shortly before we detoured back to Tattooine and found you, Revan's past was revealed to him. You see, I and the rest of the Jedi Order had wiped his memory."

The phrase "flabbergasted" didn't do Jack's expression any justice. It took a few moments for him to process what he had just heard. "You _wiped _his memory? _Why?_"

"Because he used to be a Sith Lord."

Again Jack was completely flabbergasted, floored in fact. "I don't understand, he was a Sith Lord? How could he be a Jedi then?"

Bastila sighed and recounted the history of Revan. Of how he used to be one of the greatest Jedi who had ever lived. When the Mandalorians attacked the Republic, Revan volunteered to lead an attack force against them, despite the orders of the Jedi not to do it. Revan came out on top and became the hero of the Republic. He then disobeyed orders and took a fleet and his apprentice, Malak with him to hunt down the remnants of the Sith and wipe them out.

When he returned however, he returned at the head of a fleet, completely changed; he had become the embodiment of all that was Sith with Malak as his dark apprentice. He came very close to wiping the Republic out if not for Bastila defeating him in single combat and mortally wounding him. She had used her powers to keep him alive and brought him back to the Jedi Temple. It was there that they decided to wipe his memory and use him as a force for good.

"So when Malak revealed what really happened, it brought his memories back and remembered what you did to him. So that's why he doesn't completely trust you." Jack mused.

"I didn't say he doesn't trust me!" Though her words had more force to them than she wanted, she was very unsure about how firm she stood behind them. "No..." she said after a moment. "No I suppose he doesn't. In fact, I know he doesn't, I can sense it through the bond we share in The Force. I guess that's why I'm talking to you now."

Nodding slightly, Jack said nothing at first, then he said, "Well, I can't say that I completely blame him Bastila. Evil or not, the Jedi violated his mind and a person's mind is sacred."

"I know, and I'm ashamed of what we did. We thought we were doing good. But Revan has proven himself over and over again, proving to me that what _we did _was wrong. It...breaks my heart that I've caused him so much pain."

"Why don't you tell _him _that then?" Jack offered. I don't think its ever too late to apologize, no matter how extreme the situation.

"Easier said than done." Bastila said with a sad chuckle. "You're right of course. It's just..."

Jack reached out and laid a hand on hers. "You won't know until you try." he said. They looked in each others eyes and Jack realized his hand was still on hers for probably too long. He drew it away, feeling embarrassed. She meanwhile looked down at the floor grating.

"I thank you for your candor. I will...take what you said under advisement." She stood up to leave but as she approached the door, she stopped and turned around. "You are an enigma Jack Landors. Maybe its because I can't sense you in The Force; I should be uneasy around you but instead I feel...comfortable, like I've known you my whole life. And what you did for me...and Mission. Well I..." She looked as if she was going to say more but instead she turned around and left.

He sat there, staring after her for a long moment, remembering the way her hand felt and smelling the traces of the perfume she left. "Forget it Landors, she's spoken for _and _out of your league." He said to himself. He still couldn't shake her out of his mind. He laid there the next few hours staring at the ceiling; the only thought that kept playing through his head was Bastila's face. Sleep overtook him eventually.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Violent jolting woke Jack up abruptly from his slumber. "Wha-what's going on?" He said, putting on his uniform jacket and hurrying out the engine room. He wasn't the only one who had been rudely awakened. He collided with Zaalbar though the wookie was so big that he didn't seem to register the impact. Jack felt like he ran into a carpet with solid muscles.

After spitting out loose hairs that was stuck in his mouth, he managed to sputter out, "What's going on?" Zaalbar roared and gesticulated with his gigantic arms. Jack really wished he knew what Zaalbar was saying and resolved to learn the wookie language.

"Response to inquiry: We are caught in some sort of disruptor field, meatbag." HK-47 said. "Suggestion: Should I shoot you now so as to make your death quick and painless rather than dying a horrible, fiery death?"

Ignoring the homicidal droid, he turned to Canderous who happened to be passing by. "Well the crazy droid is right about one thing, something has messed with the ship but good, we're going in!" Canderous said as he ran past Jack.

"Everybody strap in, we're going in hot!" Carth shouted from the cockpit. As if to underscore the pilot's point, the ship bucked violently causing Jack to lose his footing. He slammed against the holo-table, the wind being driven out of him momentarily. He got his bearings though and found a seat and strapped in. _Can't believe _this _is how i'm gonna go out! _He thought to himself as he gripped the edges of the seat; his knuckles turned white because he was gripping so hard. He shut his eyes tightly as he waited for the inevitable impact.

The worst thing about an air or spacecraft crash, at least according to Jack, wasn't the actual impact itself but the anticipation of the impact. The anticipation was _murder! _He sat gripping the seat for two minutes though it felt like an eternity. Two minutes was _way _too much time to think about what would happen to him when they crashed. His mind went through every grisly permutation of what would happen. He just wanted the crash to happen and be done with it.

He got his wish; the impact was massive and it turned his world into a blur of movement and color. His teeth threatened to be smashed into tiny bits inside his mouth and he tasted the unmistakable coppery taste of blood. It was a wonder though that he was still conscious however.

For a few long moments he and the rest of the crew sat still in their seats. Jack wondered if they were all thinking the same thing he was at the moment, whether or not they had actually survived or if they were really all dead. Gingerly, Jack moved his fingers and toes. When they moved he tested the rest of his body by trying to get out of his restraints. He was successful but he was sore all over; the pain was the confirmation that he needed that he was still alive.

There was no interior lights working so the only illumination were the tiny fires in the loose circuitry here and there. Even in the darkness, the little flames managed to cast deep shadows over the crew. There was stirring from the rest of the crew in the sounds of moans and groans and soft curses.

"Everybody okay?" Mission's voice squeaked softly in the darkness. Everybody replied with audible "Yes'" except for Canderous who merely grunted in reply. Zaalbar gave a throaty growl. "I'm fine Z, stop smothering me you big fleabag!" Mission said with a chuckle.

Relief washed over Jack when he knew that everybody was alright. Indeed, already he could hear the unbuckling of restraints and the shuffling of feet. A lamp penetrated the darkness and Jack could make out the unmistakable silhouette of Revan behind it. "Everybody alright?" He asked, his voice shaky. Jack noticed that Revan shined his lamp specifically on Bastila when he asked the question. Again everybody replied to which Revan sighed in relief and he shined the lamp around the damaged interior of the ship.

"Carth was able to pull us out of our powerdive right before we hit so that's why we're still alive. But the Ebon Hawk is pretty badly banged up, we're going to have to make serious repairs. Fortunately, if you can call it that, there's ship parts strewn all over the place from what we can see. Obviously we're not the ship to crash on this planet. Let's split up and look for salvage to fix the 'Hawk.'"

Not knowing what to expect when he stepped off the ship, Jack was shocked when he saw that they crash landed on...a tropical beach of all places. "Wow, looks better than any place I took a vacation" he said to himself. The white sand crunched beneath his boots and the sun was tempered by the breeze coming off the blue ocean. "Don't suppose we could just stay here for a few weeks, huh?" He asked.

Carth chuckled as he came down the ramp and looked at the sky. "No such luck, kid. It may look like a garden spot but who knows what kind of dangers are lurking here? Besides, we still have Malak to stop." Reluctantly, Jack agreed with a shrug and the two of them waited for the rest of the crew to come out of the ship.

Next out of the ship was Revan followed by Bastila. Again, Jack noticed the unease between the two of them but this time it was somehow different. Jack realized that it wasn't uncomfortableness but the stirrings of danger on their faces. The two of them leapt off the ramp and onto the sand with their lightsabers drawn.

"What's the matter?" Carth asked, right before he was hurled by some invisible force against the hull of the ship, knocking him out cold. Jack turned around and then saw the ramp and door of the Ebon Hawk close up all on its own. Ignoring the weirdness of that, he ran over to Carth to check on his ally.

Meanwhile, Bastila and Revan stood shoulder to shoulder, using the Force to search out the source of the attack. The two Jedi traded glances with each other; their focus snapped back forwards when they saw a lone figure walking out of the green foliage of the dense jungle. He was clad in black and in his hand was a red lightsaber. The creature was humanoid but that was where the similarities with a human being ended. He was at least seven feet tall and had the bulk to match his height which his robes barely contained. The face underneath the robes was extremely alien, having gigantic yellow eyes but no nose or mouth to speak of; the head was conical which even with the hood over it, was still apparent.

"What is...that?" Bastila said, twirling her lightsaber. She never got her question answered because the creature came crashing toward the two at an unbelievable speed augmented by the Force. The two Jedi were barely able to get their lightsabers up to defend against the creature's strikes.

They realized that the first strikes were merely to test their defenses; the creature shifted from a seemingly clumsy attack into a variation of Form II: Makashi. He seemed to be everywhere at once, striking high and low; he was already fast and powerful and _that _was augmented to an N'th degree by the Force. Even with Revan and Bastila's considerable power, they were hard pressed to keep up with the creature.

"Jack, we need help!" Bastila shouted from over her shoulder, just barely parrying a slice that would've vivisected her torso. Meanwhile, Revan lashed out with the Force, trying to hurl the creature away but the creature erected a Force shield which absorbed the brunt of the attack. It did force it back a few steps; its feet dragged in the sand from the backlash.

This was a feint however as Revan sensed that the creature was expecting this attack and absorbed it on purpose. "Look ou..." Revan managed to get out before a wave of telekinetic force was unleashed by the creature, a combination of Revan's and its own. Bastila and Revan put up Force shields as well; Revan sensed the blast would obliterate Bastila's shield so he stepped in front of her. The two were blown backward forty feet. They landed hard and stayed still. Bastila was the first one that stirred but Revan did not.

Seeing this, Jack eyes went wide. "No..." he murmurred as he reached for his morpher. "SPD, Emergency!" He shouted, morphing into his Ranger form. He leaped at the creature while firing his blasters, trying to give the creature something else to think about besides his friends. The creature shifted seamlessly into Form III: Soresu and easily deflected Jack's shots. He reflected two back at Jack ; the Power Ranger caught the shots full in the chest. He screamed as the blasts hit with a shower of sparks and smoke. He fell to the ground, clutching his chest. "I won't let you win!"

"Re-Revan?" He asked, trying to catch her breath as she climbed to her feet slowly. When Revan didn't move, fear began to wash over her, then that fear was turned to anger. "You _monster!_" she screamed in fury. Turning to Jack's screams, she saw him fall to the ground after catching his own shots reflected back at him. "Jack!" She shouted as she ran toward the monster, shifting into Form IV: Ataru; she covered the entire distance between her and the monster in a single leap and came down in a overhead attack. The monster parried her attack and her others as she flipped and and spun around in her deadly dance of blades.

The pain finally subsided enough in Jack's chest for him to stand up. He knew he and his friends were in danger even more mortal than they had previously faced. He recognized the creature and some of the moves it used that were mixed up in its lightsaber fighting stances. "Bastila, that Dru's _true _form!" Jack screamed, cursing himself for neglecting to tell the group about Dru's true, monsterous and more powerful form. The female Jedi momentarily glanced at Jack in shock of the new information and turned her attention back to the fight.

"Battilizer, Cyber Mode!" He screamed. Energy surrounded him as the Battilzer components attached to his body. The energy sword appeared in his hand as he charged toward the Dark Jedi/Monster hybrid. In the space of a heartbeat, he was by Bastila's side, lashing out with his sword.

Fighting against a Jedi and a Ranger gave Dru something new to think about and he began to give ground. The two allies clashed against the monster, their fighting styles meshing seamlessly with each other. While one feinted, the other struck. They played off each other's strengths and covered each other's weaknesses in their defense. Despite this, Jack felt true fear as even with his power combined with Bastila's, Dru still fought as hard as when he first appeared. What really bothered Jack was that throughout the entire fight, Dru had said absolutely nothing; he was deadly silent.

Unknown to Jack and what Bastila was beginning to realize was that Dru was using the Dark Side to feed off of Jack's fear to make himself stronger. Before she could warn her ally, Dru stopped giving ground and began to take the offense once again. With his already considerable power augmented by the Dark Side and Jack's terror, Dru became stronger than ever. He easily batted away Jack and Bastila's strikes as he grew ever closer.

Dru knocked Jack's blade out of his hand and with a spin to increase his momentum, he struck Jack full in the chest. Even with his resistance to damage, if it weren't for the Cyber Armor, Jack would've been cleaved in two. Still, he was knocked twenty feet away with a shower of sprarks. He landed hard onto the sandy ground and de-moprhed, laying deathly still.

"_No!" _Bastila screamed. The distraction proved costly; she wasn't able to avoid Dru's super-powerful, Dark Side augmented kick which caught her square in the sternum. Even with the Force shield she wrapped around herself, she felt her ribs crack and blood flew from her mouth. She too, flew a great distance before landing on the ground, momentarily stunned. "R-Revan...Jack..." She gasped as she crawled along the sand on her belly.

A heavy foot landed on Bastila's hand breaking it and she screamed out in pain. "You're lucky that the master wants you alive" Dru said. Bastila looked up with defiance in her eyes. Before she could retort however, Dru kicked her in the face, knocking her out cold.

Calmly, Dru picked up Bastila's lightsaber and began to walk into the jungle. As an afterthought, he turned around to look at the two fallen fighters. "May as well get rid of these thorns in our sides. The master will be pleased." A smile crossed his inhuman face as he gathered the Dark Side within him, letting its dark fury grow and take the form of lightning.

He unleashed the bolts toward the prone heroes which were intercepted by Jolee and Juhanee's lightsabers. The two Jedi managed to get the hatch open and caught the tail end of the fight. They got out just in time to save their fallen friends from being incinerated by the Dark Jedi's lightning. Snarling, Dru dashed into the forest but not before unleashing another massive bolt toward the Jedi, blowing up the ground in front of them. Sand flew everywhere creating a screen to cover Dru's escape.

The battleground became silent once again save for the hum of Juhanee and Jolee's lightsabers. "Oh no..." Jolee groaned as he saw Revan and Jack. He look toward the undergrowth that was crushed by Dru's escape and for a moment considered going after the creature. Turning back to his fallen friends, he decided against it. "If there's a chance to save them, then there's no time to waste!" He said, to Juhanee but mostly to himself.


End file.
